


only a whiskey away

by 24hourmess



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Background Relationships, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentioned Darksparks, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Slow Burn, i think it'll count for slow burn but who knows
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27768208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/24hourmess/pseuds/24hourmess
Summary: How do you get your seemingly mysterious crush to notice you? It's simple! Just have some weird stranger drop a cat mask at your bar, put it on, and bam! Your crush can't resist! It works. Totally. Just don't forget where you put your human mask...~~This fic was greatly inspired by the movie "A Whisker Away"!
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Mirage | Elliott Witt
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello, thank you for clicking on my fic! it's my first one that i'm posting, so i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it :)

“He’s not looking, so you can stop showing off now,” Renee said from where she sat at the wooden counter with a knowing smirk. For the past five minutes—almost ten at this point—Elliot had been adding more flourish to his bartending than the usual. There was one instance in those handful of minutes that Renee thought she would have the famous Witt whiskey spilled all over her leather jacket, but sometimes she forgets Elliot has spent years behind the counter mixing drinks. 

“And neither is she,” Elliot responded with a cheeky eyebrow waggle. If she wanted to tease him about his own currently unattainable crush (he’s working on it, okay?), then he’ll fight fire with fire. He’s been keeping a mental tally how many times Renee looked in Natalie’s direction every time the soft-speaking French woman laughed. “He’ll look. Trust me. How could he not?” he reassured Renee, smiling to himself as he shakes a drink meant for the group at table nine. 

Renee scoffed, but it’s lighthearted, “You say that every time he shows up. You don’t know how to give up, do you?”

“Why should I when I have the highly cu… co… uh, cove—treasured sisterly stamp of approval?” Renee rolled her eyes at that, not impressed by his excuse, and looked again at the corner where the objects of their affections sit together talking about things Renee wouldn’t understand but would kill to hear. She rested her chin in her hand. She’ll walk over once she finishes her drink and thinks of something better to say than just ‘hey’.

Elliot finished the drink and slid it to the proper customer over the counter, placing the tip in his pocket with a wink, and rested his elbows next to Renee. It had been several months since Tae Joon began regularly visiting his bar, and he thanked whoever or whatever it was that sent the man here. As cold and mysterious as the other man made himself appear to others, Elliot chalked it all up to him being uncomfortable and awkward in social settings. Well, he did after Tae Joon’s sister, Mila, told him so. It was obvious to him after one conversation with her that she was the social butterfly of the two. 

Still, that only made his interest in Tae Joon burn brighter. He wanted to know everything about the computer programmer (he learned that from Mila), but that would require drawing Tae Joon into conversation, and he’s slippery as hell. Every time Elliot has tried, he was either interrupted and had to leave or Tae was the one who had to leave. Elliot just wanted to correct the terrible first impression he made on Tae and show him that there was more to Elliot than the bartending persona even he forgets is an act. 

That first impression keeps Elliot up at night, sometimes, with how embarrassing it was for the both of them. He’d accidentally startled Tae Joon by bumping into him, and whatever the other was drinking ended up drenching his shirt. And, in a moment where Elliot wished he hadn’t even opened his mouth, the bartender had told Tae Joon he would look better without the shirt. Ugh, that was terrible. Elliot cringed remembering his followup line about offering Tae Joon his own shirt. He was… There wasn’t an excuse for that, really, aside from the fact that his day was already awful and he was operating on autopilot at that point. Unfortunately, it appeared Tae Joon was completely done with Elliot Witt and wouldn’t give him a second chance.

Renee flicked her straw at Elliot, purposefully bringing him back to the present. “I need another drink,” she told him, smiling at the flat look he gave her. If he didn’t want straws thrown at him, he should remember not to give her one, simple. “When was the last time he even talked to you?” Elliot opened his mouth, but was interrupted. “ _Not_ counting his order.”

He pouted. “A while ago—but come on, maybe tonight is the night.” It was clear on Renee’s face she didn’t agree, but what did she know? She was still at the counter after all, when she could just walk up to Natalie and talk to her instead of pestering Elliot about his own love life.

“Hey Ellie,” a new voice piped up, bringing a genuine smile to Elliot’s lips. “What’s the special for tonight? Can I get a discount?” Mila joked, leaning onto the counter and batting her eyelashes at Elliot as if mimicking some of the lovestruck patrons that frequent the cozy Paradise Lounge in the hopes of having the bartender’s attention.

Elliot twirled a glass in his hands. “If you can convince your brother to come up and order for you both, I’ll take fifteen percent off.”

“Only fifteen?”

“I think I’m being generous.” Mila let out a good natured huff, shoving her hands in her pockets as she bounced on the heels of her feet. She glanced back at the booth she and her brother had claimed for the night, watching him play some game on his phone before he returned her stare with a questioning one. She grinned.

“Alright, you got a deal, though I think my brother’s worth more than fifteen percent,” Mila winked at Elliot, who had barely enough self-control to not fist pump in excitement. He definitely thought about doing it, though, and Mila and Renee seemed to pick up on that and both shared a laugh at Elliot’s antics.

“Go get him, tiger,” Mila encouraged Elliot with a thumbs up and a smile. Elliot watched her approach the table and shrug at whatever question her brother asked, and focused back on the drinks he was supposed to be serving when Mila pointed in his direction. He didn’t want Tae Joon to know how eager he was at getting a chance to talk to him, ya know?

He lucked out tonight—ha, take _that_ Renee!—because Elliot didn’t even count to a minute before Tae Joon stood up from the booth. Wait, he shouldn’t stare, that’s kind of creepy isn’t it, and he didn’t want to spook Tae Joon from yet another conversation. This time was going to be different.

“Hey,” Elliot had to bite his tongue from tacking ‘handsome’ at the end of that greeting, “What can I get for you?” First, he had to ease into the conversation. Simple.

Tae Joon gave him a borderline wary look from behind his glasses. Elliot’s smile didn’t falter. “Mila told me you would give us a discount if I ordered?” The way he said the statement made it sound more like a question, which was cute, and it was obvious not just from his tone but also his expression that Tae Joon was confused by the discount.

Elliot felt Renee’s gaze boring into him, seeing if he would mess up yet another chance of talking to the programmer or if some other circumstance would drive them apart. “Yeah, don’t worry about it,” he waved away any further questions about the discount, wanting to instead focus on actually talking to Tae Joon while making his drink. “You want your usual?”

“Ya, and my sister wants a strawberry daiquiri. She told me to make sure you don’t forget the umbrella,” Tae Joon answered, deciding not to pursue the reason for why he and his sister are getting a discount when he was sure the other patrons weren’t receiving the same treatment. With his small paycheck, he’ll take the gift, strange as it was.

“I would never forget something so important!” Elliot mock gasped, his hand that wasn’t reaching for the soju bottles he kept stocked for one special customer placed on his chest in dramatic offense. He saw from across the bar Mila sticking her tongue out at him, and Elliot returned the childish expression, chuckling to himself while Tae Joon and Renee rolled their eyes at his behavior. He did spot that small smile on Tae Joon’s face, however, so the other man wasn’t as bothered as he pretended to be.

Okay, so, what he needed to do was start a conversation. That should be easy for him, right? There was no way Elliot Witt would flounder now. Elliot opened his mouth, pouring the orange juice in the glass after the soju. He closed his mouth. Tae Joon was looking back at Mila again. Renee was watching them both and sipping her cocktail, raising a questioning brow at Elliot’s awkward silence.

“So… uh, how was your week? You didn’t show up last Saturday—,” He set Tae Joon’s drink on the counter, “—not that I was worried, or anything, but, uh, I was just curious why you didn’t come.” Strong start. Renee tried not to snicker into her glass while Tae Joon just stared at him like he was speaking gibberish. Did he stutter again? He didn’t think he did but, god, what if he did and sounded like an idiot? This is going great already and he’s only spoken one sentence that wasn’t related to Tae Joon’s order.

Tae’s fingers came up and nudged his glasses back up his nose. The programmer hadn’t expected Elliot to notice his absence, considering he spent most of his time in the Paradise Lounge just quietly drinking in a corner as Mila and her friends talked all night, occasionally including him in the conversation. “It was alright. I didn’t show up because of work; I passed out as soon as I came home.” Elliot perked up. This was going smoother than he thought it would after his ‘strong start’. Tae Joon didn’t continue after that, yet Elliot was more than okay with filling in the gaps.

“That sounds rough. Do you work at an office or at home? Your sister mentioned you guys having this, like, freelance thing that you two do. An office sounds boring and mont… mona, monton—um, flat? No, wait, mundane! Yeah, that fits.” Elliot continued to talk while he fixed Mila’s drink. “I don’t think I could ever work in an office, ya know? Stuck in some cubicle pumping out those spreadsheets from nine to five… Spreadsheets can be pretty nice, though, if you have the right formulas, so I can see why offices like to use them. Do you work with spreadsheets?” He stuck the umbrella into the daiquiri and even used a lime slice for garnish.

When Elliot glanced up after not hearing a response after a several seconds, he saw that Tae Joon was obviously lost in how to respond to the ramble Elliot dumped on him. Crap, that’s embarrassing. Why did he start talking about spreadsheets?

“It… depends. I have more than one job, sometimes, so I do both. I prefer working at home,” Tae Joon started, interrupting himself to take a sip from the drink Elliot placed for him on the counter. Maybe the ramble didn’t scare him off as Elliot feared, because Tae was still here. “I don’t have to use spreadsheets most of the time unless it’s data the company wants. I just code.”

“Wow, what’s that like? What kind of stuff do you code?” Elliot asked, leaning on his elbows on the counter. This was the longest conversation he and Tae Joon have shared and he did not care if a patron on the other end of the counter called for his attention, because all of it was being directed at the cute guy in glasses that Elliot had been dying to talk to all night. And last week. 

“I code software and test different companies’ cybersecurity. Sometimes I’m just the IT guy called in to check their operating systems. Most of that isn’t too interesting, I assure you,” Tae Joon explained, stopping himself from going off on his own tangent of what he does for a living to a chatty bartender he hardly knew. Besides, he didn’t enjoy most of the work he did anyway, finding it either too dull or, in some cases, too dangerous depending on who Tae and Mila’s employers were.

“Don’t sell yourself short, kid. It sounds interesting. Tell me more,” Elliot prodded, wanting to keep the other man talking. Tae Joon blinked, surprise etched into his features. He wasn’t used to people actually wanting to hear about his work, since most have just labelled him a nerd and moved on. Being called ‘kid’ was also new, but he didn’t mind.

Tae Joon didn’t want to abandon his sister for the night, though. “Maybe I’ll tell you some other time… old man,” he teased Elliot, lips curled in a playful smirk as he took his and Mila drinks. “Thanks for the discount.”

“I hate to see him leave, but love to watch him go,” Elliot muttered to himself, causing Renee to laugh out loud. “But hey, I proved you wrong! See, I totally have a chance!” He pointed a finger at her. “You should talk to Natalie tonight too. You might not get as lucky as me, but you’ll probably get somewhere.”

“Ah, yes. ‘Lucky as me’, says the guy who only spoke with his crush for about three consecutive minutes that wasn’t just you doing your job.”

“It was at least five minutes,” Elliot sniffed. “Either way, talk to her or don’t, I’ll be busy being on cloud nine right now.” Silence lapsed between the two of them after that, Renee internally debating with herself how to talk to her own crush while Elliot served the rest of the bar’s patrons.

He caught Tae Joon looking his way a few times, mostly because he himself couldn’t help it either, and sent the man an animated grin each time. Tonight was his night. He also made more tips than usual, which livened his spirits when the patrons began filtering out as closing time settled. Unfortunately, Elliot didn’t see Tae Joon leave, yet he was confident that next week’s Saturday Tae Joon would show up at ten-thirty p.m. and would indulge Elliot in more conversation.

Elliot wiped down the bar counter with the white cloth that was draped over his shoulder, humming a tune he heard on his mother’s radio to himself. So focused on cleaning up, he didn’t pay much attention to the last customer finishing up their drink before they left. It was as they were already halfway to the door that Elliot spotted a brown cat mask left on their stool.

“Hey, wait, you forgot this mask thing—,” he started, but the customer merely turned to face him, their face obscured by the shadow of their hat and their popped up coat collar.

“Keep it,” they insisted. “You might need an escape.” With that ominous message, they effectively left no room for argument by walking right out the door. Elliot’s brows drew together in confusion. First of all, why would anyone bring a cat mask to a bar when Halloween is still several months away, and second of all why would he want ‘an escape’? He reached over the counter and plucked the mask right off the stool, giving it a once over. Yup, it was just a brown cat mask made out of wood with some darker brown stripes on it and reddish-orange paint on the bottom. Weird, he thought, as he walked to the storage room and placed it in the lost and found box. Guess he’ll wait and see if the stranger ever comes back for the mask.

Bar now empty, Elliot finished cleaning and locked the front door after turning off the lights. It was time to head home. Tomorrow was his off-day, and he was going to enjoy it by spending time with his mother.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new year new chapter!! i meant to update before but oop, finals really drained me. hope y'all enjoy though :)

_“Hey! How’s the most beautiful woman in the Outlands doing? I was just calling to check in and—”_

_”Sorry, your mother can’t come to the phone right now, it’s not a good day for her. Is it something important you want me to write down for later?”_

_“...Ah, um, no no, it’s fine. I was just going to tell her I hoped she wasn’t lonely with me, ha… Thank you, Molly. Shoot me a message or call me when she improves?”_

_”Always do. Enjoy work, Elliot”_

_Click._  


Elliot brought his phone to his forehead and shut his eyes. Days like this were always the hardest for him; obviously they were more difficult for his mother, that was a no-brainer he didn’t think needed to be prefaced but sometimes people thought he was too self-absorbed to realize that. Some days he was one of those people. 

He let out a quiet breath and stayed still, hunched over the counter to his bar while attempting to put his souring mood into a mental box he can ignore until the Paradise Lounge closed in the early morning. It wasn’t working so far, but he had about a half hour to try it anyway.

Maybe he shouldn’t have called today—Elliot hated that thought even more. Just because his mom was having a bad day didn’t mean it wasn’t worth it to call. Yeah, he spent time with her last weekend and visited again for a few hours on Wednesday to see if she needed help with dinner (she didn’t), but he was still worried she would end up forgetting the stove was left on and cause a house fire. He also worried if he didn’t check up on her so often she would… forget him too. 

Okay, with that deep fear cemented into his mind, Elliot stood up from the counter and put his phone away, dusting his hands off the sullen thoughts. He did not want to let this slip through his facade tonight; he had a date. Okay, not a date at all—that would be kind of weird to call it a date—point was, he was going to serve drinks and hope Tae Joon came tonight and would be willing to share more about himself. Or they could talk about other things too, if that’s what Tae Joon preferred. They could talk about spreadsheets for all Elliot cared.

Time passed quickly enough now that he wasn’t overwhelmed by his mother’s memory lapse and chose to distract himself with possible conversation starters he would probably end up butchering. That didn’t matter though; what mattered was just enjoying himself and maybe getting a laugh from Tae Joon.

Elliot checked the clock for the fifth time in half an hour. It was approaching midnight, and his favorite Saturday customer had yet to appear tonight. Mila hadn’t shown up yet either or shot him a text since Thursday, so his hopes were falling into quicksand deeper as half an hour late became almost two. Maybe Tae Joon and Mila got caught up in work again, which blew because Elliot had been looking forward to seeing them since his last Saturday shift ended.

His signature smile he plastered on was beginning to dip. “Hey, stop looking like a kicked puppy. He’s probably busy, and you’re working anyway. I need a refill,” Renee nudged her tumbler glass on the counter. Elliot’s smile fell flat, but he just poured the whiskey in anyway.

“I can talk while working. See? I’m an expert at it. More lip from you and I’m cutting you off early,” he threatened, pointing an accusing finger at Renee. It didn’t deter her from just staring blankly at him while she took a sip. Elliot sighed. “Whatever, just stop being such a downer, it’s rubbing off on me. He might still show up.”

“Mila’s not here yet either,” Renee reminded him.

“Maybe they’re both on their way here right now. Or, maybe, he isn’t as coden—cop… cod, uh, glued to his sister as you think, and he shows up without her.” They both shared a look. Tae never came to the Paradise Lounge without his sister; the guy was obviously too shy or introverted or whatever for that. Which Elliot totally respected and understood, since he used to be like that when he was younger and less confident in himself. Some would argue that he wasn’t any more confident now, but that he was better at hiding his insecurities.

“Where’s Nat?” Elliot switched topics, standing up to his full height to look past some of the patrons at the counter to see the booth where the electrical engineer usually sat.

“She’s working on her thesis right now, but she’s free tomorrow. She wants us to hang out somewhere outside of here, though, or at least when you’re not working.”

“I can take some hours off tomorrow, no big deal. Am I third-wheeling?” he asked honestly, using his rag to wipe up a spot where a patron spilt a dribble of a martini while they were gesturing frantically about a decade-old movie.

Renee shrugged. “It’s not a date, if that’s what you mean.”

“Doesn’t really answer my question, but I’ll go. Remind me tomorrow a few hours before so I can get ready.”

“How long does your hair even take?”

“That’s part of the secret,” Elliot winked at her. It only took him an hour with the years of practice he’s had, but he didn’t think revealing that would impress Renee too much when most days she just tosses her hair into a bun and calls it a day. Which is fine! Elliot didn’t think it looked bad or anything, he was just saying she put less effort into her appearance—ugh, why was he trying to justify this to himself when he understood what he meant? Now Renee was looking at him weird since he was talking to himself in his head for too long. 

“Anyway,” Elliot cleared his throat, not having any idea of where he was going with the new topic of conversation. He didn’t need to, however, because if there was one thing Elliot was known for, it was talking the ear off of somebody about everything and nothing at the same time.

When the lights of the Paradise Lounge dimmed and the last patron gone after a decent tip, Elliot slumped over the counter and half-heartedly wiped at it with a rag. It was a boring night, really, except for Octavio breaking a shot glass, but that’s routine by now. A lot of things were routine now. Every once in a while he’d call his mom and be heartbroken over her loosening grasp on her memory, Renee would say something that would dent the armor of confidence he’d built up—she’d apologize later but it’s always later—and he’d be watching the door waiting for his crush to come by even though there’s a very real possibility nothing was ever going to happen.

Elliot groaned. He was overthinking again, and doing that never helped anyone he met. Standing up to his full height, Elliot stretched his arms above his head and walked into the backroom behind the counter. “Where’s the tumbler glasses…?” Elliot asked himself underneath the weak light, using his right hand to smooth his beard in thought.

“Ugh, I should dust in here… Monday,” he tacked on at the end, running a finger through a thin layer of dust that covered a shelf. Tonight, he just wanted to finish up and head home to get a full night of beauty sleep. Pretending he didn’t hear the _pop_ in his knees as he crouched down, Elliot grinned when he spotted where he kept the glasses. “ _There_ you are!” he said, grabbing one and standing up, coming face to face with the cat mask left by the stranger.

He yelped in surprise, jumping back with a hand raised on instinct. “Oh, you’re still here,” he muttered, embarrassed at his overreaction and letting out a shaky exhale. “That guy, er, person still hasn’t come back for you? Why am I talking to you like you’re also a person?” Maybe the drink Ramya talked him into was stronger than he expected…

Shaking that excuse off, Elliot grabbed the mask with his free hand and really looked over the thing. He hadn’t spared it a second glance before chucking it into the lost-and-found bin, to be honest, too focused on actually working to examine it further. Yup, it didn’t change while sitting here gathering dust. 

He flipped it over to look at the inside. Huh, he wondered how this was supposed to fit, as it didn’t have a string or ribbon to tie behind the back of the head. Setting down the replacement glass, Elliot tried the mask on, surprised to find it fit his handsome features perfectly. Well, hey, if Halloween came around the corner and he still didn’t have an ensemble idea, he could use this and dress up as one of those catboys or something Ramya mentioned when showing him her Twitter.

Without warning and before he could remove the mask, Elliot’s stomach dropped and his vision blacked out for a second, his mind a dizzy mess as he tried to grab onto the shelf in front of him and steady himself. Crap, was he passing out?! He didn’t work _that_ hard or drink more than one glass. Was he sick? The lightbulb barely lighting up the backroom winked at him on his way down; the only thing he could hear was the sound of wind rushing over his ears.

It was an awful feeling that lasted for a minute, and Elliot felt the cold floor underneath his cheek while his vision continued to swim. He needed to get up and find a toilet, stat. Reaching out an arm to drag his uncooperating body towards the bathroom, he noticed a cat’s paw in his periphery. Was there a cat in here? He didn’t let any cats into the bar tonight, though he was aware of the scraggly, mean-looking stray that had decided the alleyway outside the Paradise Lounge was a perfect hangout spot. Elliot wasn’t afraid of that cat at all, nope! This paw was brown with darker brown stripes, though, and that didn’t match the stray at all. Elliot tried to coo and get the cat’s attention, but the only sound making its way past his lips was a strangled jumble that didn’t resemble words at all. Instead, the noise easily could’ve belonged to the cat in his backroom.

When he tried to reach out again, the paw came into view, and his eyesight finally started to right itself after his sickness spell… and he realized the paw was his arm. There was no other way to explain how it moved like he was telling his own arm to, not without some really weird invisible cat who wanted to copy him. He was just joking about the catboy thing, he thought frantically, attempting to get on his feet and find the nearest mirror. On his feet he was unsteady still, and his eyes didn’t even see over the lowest shelf from where he stood. How was he supposed to find a mirror to confirm this absolutely crazy idea?!

Getting to the bathroom was an experience. Elliot had never tripped over his feet as bad as he did now than when he went to parties with his friends. Actually looking at himself was a major effort as well, and it took several minutes of scrambling up the sink to finally see his reflection. Holy shit. He was literally a cat. A cat. What kind of mask did that person just leave him?! Elliot touched at his cheeks, disturbed for one second before marveling over how soft his fur was. Well, he’ll take what little victories he can get them, he supposed, looking into his amber eyes. Never let it be said he didn’t make a cute cat. Like, seriously. He could easily become one of those famous cats on the internet.

What was he thinking? How was he supposed to go back to his human self? He wasn’t wearing a miniature human mask over his cat self… Maybe he needed to… knock it off? Gently, he bat at his face, hoping to loosen whatever was keeping the magic mask enough that it would fall off. No dice right now; it stayed firm. He can’t drive home like this. Elliot’s tail swished. A tail?—oh, right, that was a part of the whole cat thing. He needed to go home and sleep this off, if that worked.

Well, the Paradise Lounge was only a fifteen minute drive from home… how long that would be traveling by cat feet was the real question, however. Might as well get started. Elliot walked back towards the counter, looking at his bag he brought that contained his wallet and keys. He could carry the keys, but nothing else. Cat mouths are hilariously small, he realized, picking up the keyring between his teeth and making his way to the bar’s front door. Right, he needed to push enough to let himself out. It took longer than figuring out how to conquer the sink’s height, but eventually Elliot figured it out before he decided to collapse on the counter and call it a night.

Time to figure out how the hell to get home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stay tuned to see elliot's night time adventure! that is, if the writing goes to plan lksadfskldf


End file.
